Grand Prix thread Not606 2016 Mexican Grand Prix Chat and Predictions

I'm not sure what your point is re time penalties. If you have a fixed time penalty for a fixed transgression then that must stand regardless of whether or not it hurts the driver or team. If it makes no real difference to the result it's just as fair as if it changes the result because the punishment is the same penalty. If you start changing the penalty (ie a longer time penalty) to ensure it affects the result then you are right back at punishments being open to interpretation. That may have been the point you were making. Not sure.

 

Interestingly, we have been saying there needs to be less tarmac run off and more grass/gravel etc. The whole of the run off at turns 1-3 was grass but this didn't seem to cause Hamilton or Verstappen any issues.

Why not put in a big gravel trap. Serves a purpose of slowing down cars that spin off, but also means someone making an error has to drive around it, thereby giving them the effective time penalty necessary for not making the turns. Easy.

All circuits need to be reviewed to make the whole issue of gaining an advantage a non-issue by reinstating grass and gravel areas in strategic places where drivers have typically gone off track in the past without issue, not so much to put an end to their race which is not what we always want to see, but at least cause the driver a problem so the subsequent penalty issue becomes null and void.

Simple solutions are required.

 

How very sensible!

 

Big gravel traps are going out of style because they aren't the best solution for accidents. At speed, a car will bounce across the top of gravel and nullify any braking by the driver, and if an edge of the car catches then gravel flips it - as we saw with Alonso at Melbourne this year. Even if we accept that we're comfortable with the additional risks posed by gravel in F1, MotoGP increasingly won't go anywhere near gravel as it's even worse for bikes. With the ludicrous race fees, a circuit can't ignore anything with 2 wheels.

Personally I think more polystyrene walls and chicanes should be introduced, like Monza T1 and the last corner at Montreal. If there was a polystyrene wall running along on the edge of the tarmac outside T1 at Mexico, the driver has a choice of trying to rejoin at T2, or going a long way around to get back on at T3. It looks a touch artificial, but adds little cost to modify existing tracks, and has no effect on accident prevention.

 

Probably why it will never happen!

 

Polystyrene walls cause a lot of damage and mess to an out of control car, as demonstrated by Emanuelle Pirro, but as you say can have their uses for escape roads etc, Not sure how this would have been effective at Mexico when the area to be covered was a lot greater.

I'm not suggesting huge gravel traps, but something small enough that it will 'protect' a corner and mean a driver has to go around it would suffice. Am sure they can model gravel traps these days to make them far more efficient and less of a risk than they used to.

Maybe put in a mandatory escape road that a driver has to use if they miss the first corner and if they do not use it then they will get an automatic penalty?

 

If we use this analogy, the player or manger gets fined or banned. However, the referee also gets removed from the premier league and demoted to Div 1 for X amount if games. Vettel hasn't built a rod for his own back, F1 has!

I'm not defending Vettel's behaviour, but the inept attitude of F1 has created this issue. If we just take the Max rule for example, Vettel gets 2 points and 10 sec penalty - fair enough - although Vettels defence was controlled and left a cars width. However let's accept it as an infringement. The amount of moves Max has made this season, he would be close to a ban!

 

Grass only works when it's on the radius of a corner that prevents you from rotating a car. If a car can continue in straight line without turning then it has little or no affect as in the case we saw this weekend with a 90 right 90 left. As suggested a gravel strip preventing rentry from the 90 left onwards would be safe as it would not collect an out of control car at the end of the straight.

 

I would love to see a statement from the FIA stewards to say no action being taken against Seb because he is correct that they are inept and his reaction was fully justified

Maybe bad stewards should be demoted to GP2 for a race or two? Certainly lots of driving standards issue there for them to pick through!

 

I said ban him in my previous post - no issues - I'm not sure what you want me to say? This doesn't mean that FIA etc are doing a good job?

I'm not saying any driver is justified in behaviour like this. I'm simply saying that F1 has got itself into a situation where the rules don't work and they compound it by bringing more rules out justify the rules that didnt work previously. They then sit on their thrones (raping the sport and getting fat), so detached from what us actually happening (from both a competitors and a spectators standpoint) that they hand out inconsistent and unfair penalties. You cannot force drivers to respect stewards, Charlie etc when there is a blatant lack of respect shown back.

The frightening thing is that the stewards, Charlie, rulemakers actually think they are doing a good job....you know why.....because their not accountable? Drivers lose championships and get dropped because of decisions that are made by out of date has beens!

 

was only thinking of funny hypothetical situations that will never happen

 

the stewards are doing a good job for somebody, just not the fans or the sport.

 

My bad. I'm just losing the will to live with this sport at the moment.

 

Taken from Brundles colum whilst trying to add credibility to the calamity of Mexico.

"Naturally not every decision is clear-cut, and a lot of fans have been asking why Max Verstappen was penalised for missing the first corner when Lewis Hamilton wasn't punished for also going across the grass at the start of the race.

On a related note, I would have penalised Lewis back at Monaco in May for cutting the chicane when Danny Ric was chasing him down. "

I'm pretty sure he had a different view at the Monaco GP?

 

If in doubt use paint

I got bored half way through but you get the idea. Tarmac run off to be safe, but which rejoins the long way.
Something like gravel to stop you cutting the corner further round. If you go straight on you have the 'safe' tarmac. If you've just messed up on your own then it's up to you which way you go.

 

Perfect!

 

well, the idea isn;t too bad, not so sure about the artistry though....

 

That's the problem with Etch a Sketch

 

I take it back, that's 100x better than anything I can do on an etch a sketch.